


Put a Ring On It

by telliefan (captainamergirl)



Category: One Life to Live
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-16
Updated: 2016-05-16
Packaged: 2018-06-08 19:14:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6870037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainamergirl/pseuds/telliefan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kelly mistakenly believes that Joey is proposing to her. A three-part story about my One Life to Live OTP.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Part 1/3**  
  
He opens the door to his room and he immediately breaks out into a smile upon seeing her standing there. "Kelly, hey!" He greets her happily. Her smile was faltering before because she was so consumed with worry over whether she should come here after all; actually accept his invitation to go to lunch at The Palace just like in the old times. But now her smile is bright as his own - if not brighter.   
  
"Hey, Joe," she greets him back. She feels like a silly school girl head over heels in love for the first time and yet she knows she isn't. That she has been in love with him all along and the other marriages, the other relationships and the horrible affairs didn't stick, didn't work out, because they weren't supposed to. They weren't meant to last. Joey was hers always and she wants to be his again, forever and ever, this time.  
  
He pulls her into his room and closes the door with the toe of his dress shoes. He's wearing a button-down white shirt and black trousers and he looks so perfectly put-together. She wonders how he can be so calm around her after all they've shared, after all their complicated history, after the ugliness especially. But she started the ugliness, she carried it on, so he has actually has zero reason to feel awkward. That's all on her and she's here to convince him that she knows she has made so many damn mistakes but she knows it now. She knows where she belongs. Where he belongs. They belong _together._   
  
Telling him all this though ... It will be hard but maybe a bit easier than originally anticipated because he was the one who invited her to lunch and he was the one who said he had something "life-changing" (his words) to tell her.  
  
He reaches out and lightly taps her chin quickly, yet so affectionately. His touch burns her skin, even after all this time. She's sure she's doing the right thing being here, laying her heart on the line once and for all. She's ready to spill her guts, and do her penance, whatever it takes. Because she wants Joey back and she always has wanted him. She just lost her way, lost sight of what was important - how important he was to her and her life - and now thank god, she knows it's him and it's always going to be him.  
  
"I can't get used it," he says.  
  
"What?" She asks, almost too quickly. "I mean ... well, what do you mean?"  
  
"Your hair. It looks so natural in color. I mean, where is the bottle-blonde Madonna-wannabe hair?"  
  
Kelly smiles. "Oh, I ditched that look years ago."  
  
"Yeah I guess so..." He smiles again and this time there's a little tinge of sadness in the smile but then the look is quickly gone and he's as bright and charming as ever. "Alright. Let me just finish getting ready and then we can go to lunch."  
  
"You look ready to me, Joe. You actually really look great."  
  
Joey nods and laughs. "Thanks. I just gotta do a mouth-rinse and floss and I'll be all set."  
  
"You're just going to get your teeth all filled with cavities again at lunch," she jokes.  
  
"I know but I like to be presentable. Things change, I guess. I don't just throw on a tee-shirt anymore and call it a day."  
  
"I can tell," she says and watches him slip into his bathroom and shut the door. For a moment she doesn't know why, but she feels unsettled and nervous. Not in the anticipatory, butterflies-in-her-stomach kind of way that actually propelled her to drive over to Llanfair in the first place. No, it's an uncertain, maybe-this-won't-turn-out-how-you-want-it-to-Kelly, kind of way.  
  
Until she sees the ring box. Its sticking out of the pocket of his expensive suit jacket, casually tossed over the back of the chair. A ring box...   
  
She might start hyperventilating. She really can barely breathe as she closes the distance between herself and the jacket and instinctively pulls it out of the pocket of the coat. Her whole hand trembles as she pulls back the lid and looks at the stunning pink diamond ring sitting in the velvet container. A pink diamond. So perfect, so unique, so original. So ... Joey. So ... her. This is the ring that she's meant to wear for the rest of her life; she can feel it.   
  
And of course it all makes sense. Why he's dressed up and wanting perfect dental hygiene. He's going to propose again. Oh god.  
  
"I have to call Blair," she whispers to herself and she quickly sets the ring box down on the desk and reaches for her phone in her oversized purse. But she ends up picking up the box up again and pulling the diamond out. She can't help it. She wants to wear it for just a second. And then she will take it off and put it back in the box and back into the coat pocket so Joey will never be the wiser and she can act totally surprised when he asks even while inwardly she will be screaming for him to hurry and pop the question already - she's been waiting all her life and she doesn't want to wait anymore - while she already has a "YES!" on the tip of her pink tongue.  
  
She slides it onto her finger. Its snug but she forces it down anyway. She admires it as she punches Blair's phone number on speed dial.  
  
After what seems like forever, Blair's husky voice answers, "Hullo?"  
  
"Blair, its Kelly! Ohmigod. You are never going to believe what's just happened. Or about to happen actually. Or where I'm standing right now and what I'm wearing and -"  
  
"Kelly, are you drunk?"  
  
"No!"  
  
"Then slow the hell down and talk normally. Jeez. What's up?"  
  
"Okay well I can't talk slower because Joey will be out of the bathroom any minute and I have to take off the ring and put it back and act surprised when he-"  
  
"I'm lost..."  
  
"Blair, Joey's going to propose to me! He invited me to lunch, he got all dressed up and he smells amazing too boot, and then he has a ring - a pink diamond which is beautiful beyond belief - poking out of his coat pocket. When he went to the bathroom, I put it on and its snug but it feels so right. I am meant to wear Joey's ring again!"  
  
"You are meant to be in St. Ann's, Kelly," Blair says and Kelly almost laughs but she doesn't.  
  
"Maybe so but I got that Mary J. Blige song 'Put a Ring on It' stuck in my head and -"  
  
"I am pretty sure you mean Beyonce and it's not a song about-"  
  
"Oh shit, Blair, gotta go. I heard the faucet turn off. He will be out any second."  
  
"Okay ... well, bye then."  
  
"BYE!" Kelly chirps and she sticks her phone back inside her purse and then goes to remove the ring. She gives it a tug. And another tug. And it does not budge even half a centimeter upwards.   
  
_Shit!_ Joey will know she was snooping. She'll ruin his surprise...  
  
Then the door is opening and he's walking out and beaming at her in that heartbreaking, so Joey kind of way. "Hey, ready to go?" He asks.  
  
Kelly nods. "Yeah." She is hiding the ring behind her back. But of course she doesn't realize that the ring box itself is still sitting open, empty on the desk, and of course he sees it.  
  
He looks at her. "The ring...?"  
  
Kelly blushes and slowly withdraws her hand from behind her back. "I tried it on. Don't get mad, okay! It was ... it was just so beautiful. I couldn't wait for you to ask me to be yours again so I just put it on and now it's stuck ... And why ... God, Joe, why are you looking at me like that?"  
  
He isn't smiling anymore. No, he actually looks sad. And apologetic. She made another huge mistake here. Now she knows it and she can't take it back.  
  
"Its ... It's ... The ring is not for me ... Is it, Joe?"  
  
He shakes his head and he looks at his highly-polished dress shoes before looking at her again. "No, Kel, no, actually it's not..."


	2. Chapter 2

**2/3**  
  
She winces involuntarily. “God I am so dumb. How could I think after all I’ve done, after all that’s happened …“ She trails off as he looks at her apologetically. Oh she can handle anything but that look.  
  
“Kel –“  
  
She holds up a hand. The hand with the ring still stuck on it. She blushes. “Never mind… Let’s just get this off, okay?” She says. “Got any butter?” She is trying to make a joke out of this awkward situation but it’s not going over too well. She feels as pained as he looks.  
  
“I do have lotion,” Joey said. “Let’s try that first.”  
  
“Good idea,” she agrees and watches as he moves over to a drawer and withdraws a bottle of lotion he probably bought cheaply at a grocery store. So pragmatic. So Joey. Boy, she is aching right now.  
  
He returns to her side and starts to reach for her hand and then seems to think better of it. He actually asks, “May I?” Have they come to the place where they need permission to even touch each other’s fingers?  
  
“Of course,” she says and wills her hand not to tremble as he touches her. Fortunately, she keeps her hand steady somehow as he squeezes lotion into his palm and then reaches for her hand. He massages around the ring until it comes slowly down her knuckle and off into his hand. He pulls away and she instinctively feels the loss of him. She has lost him. Hell, she lost him a long time ago; she just couldn’t admit it.  
  
He grabs a towel from the bathroom and hands it to her wordlessly. She wipes off her slimy fingers and then heads for her purse. “Well, I’ll see you later,” she says.  
  
“Kel? What about lunch?”  
  
She pauses in her tracks. Without turning around, she says, “Well, uh, I think I can already guess what your life-altering news is and I’m not that hungry.”  
  
She hears him sigh and then walk around her until he is facing her. Although her eyes are suddenly entranced with the pictures on his wall. “We need to talk, Kelly,” he says.  
  
“I am not up for that right now,” she admits because it’s true. If he tries to let her down easy, she’s going to cry hysterically. And she doesn’t want to cry in front of him. Hasn’t she embarrassed herself enough already?  
  
“Is there a better time?” He asks. “You thought I was proposing and I just want you to know that I will always care about you and –“ She doesn’t hear the rest. Oh god he is trying to let her down easy. And he didn’t say he will always love her even. Just that he will always care. As if she’s a friend, as if their past, their history, was nothing more than a passing fling. Like they weren’t once each other’s everything.  
  
She somehow holds back her tears and shakes her head. “Joey, it’s okay. It was really dumb of me to think after everything I did to you that you could possibly want to marry me. I am truly sorry I put you in that awkward of a position.”  
  
“Kelly, please-“  
  
“No, it’s okay. We’ve said everything we need to say I guess except congratulations. I truly hope that she treats you right and helps make all your dreams come true.” She is such a masochist but she has to ask, “She’s good to you right?”  
  
“Yeah, yeah, she is,” Joey answers. “Really good to me.”  
  
 _Better than I was,_ Kelly thinks. She is probably some perfect, amazing Mother Theresa type who would never cheat on Joey.  
  
“Well, uh, I am glad,” she says and a part of her is glad that he has found someone who makes him happy. But a selfish part of her wishes he could be happy with her again.  
  
“I know it’s a lot to ask right now but it’s a small town, so when you meet her, will you be nice to her?”  
  
“I should be offended by that question, Joey. You had no qualms about me meeting her before I am guessing so why now? Because I stupidly thought you wanted us to have a second chance? I am not going to begrudge you your happiness, Joey. You and this girl –“  
  
“Aubrey.”  
  
“Aubrey what?” Kelly asks, feeling a sinking suspicion suddenly.  
  
“It doesn’t matter.”  
  
“Oh yes it does.”  
  
“Her name is Aubrey Wentworth.”  
  
“Oh god,” Kelly moans.  
  
“What is it, Kelly?”  
  
“I know her. I mean, I met her on the plane. She was telling me all about this wonderful guy of hers …” _And I told her all about the special guy I wanted back and now this is two hundred times more awkward. She’s going to think I am after her man. Things will be extra painful,_ she thinks.  
  
“Is it too late to disappear in the Bermuda Triangle?” Kelly moans out loud.  
  
“Aubrey obviously feels comfortable with you if she confided in you.”  
  
Oh joy. Kelly nods. “Anyway, I need to be going. For real.” She walks towards the door and for the briefest moment, she thinks he’s going to stop her when he calls her name.  
  
“Kelly?”  
  
“Yes?”  
  
“I’m sorry if I hurt you.”  
  
She blinks back tears. “I am sorry I hurt _you,”_ she replies and then walks out. She makes it outside and to her car before the tears begin to stream down her face. She sits there for a long moment because she can’t possibly drive in this condition. Only when the tears subside does she start up the car. She then pulls away from the curb and away from her dreams. She is going to drown herself in the biggest glass of wine ever…


	3. Chapter 3

**3/3**  
  
“How did you find me?” She asks as with a sigh as she senses his presence. She doesn’t even have to look up and actually see him to feel him.  
  
He sits down beside her at the bar. “Well I literally looked everywhere else for you in town. Rodi’s was the last place on the list.”  
  
She remembers a time they would have found each other right away with no problem. A time when they were of one heart and one mind. It breaks her knowing that they aren’t connected that way anymore. At least, that’s how it feels to her – like there’s a huge divide between them.  
  
She says nothing as he watches her. “So what’s your plan, Kel?” he asks. “To sit here all night and get sauced?”  
  
“Basically. Now if you’ll excuse me, I only half ‘sauced’. Gotta catch up…”  
  
“Kelly, I am not going to sit here and watch you drink yourself into a coma.”  
  
“You have the option to leave,” Kelly returns as she puts the glass to her lips. "Isn’t Aubrey waiting anyway?”  
  
She sounds so bitter even to her own ears and he immediately calls her on it the way only he can. “You are acting bitter, Kelly. You’re not yourself right now. This isn’t you.”  
  
“Well excuse me if I am a tad bit embarrassed by the whole situation that went down in your room. I mean I actually assumed you wanted me after all this time and –“ She breaks off as he gives her a soft look.  
  
“Kel, that’s the problem – I do want you,” Joey says and she nearly drops her drink in surprise. Her hand is shaking so bad.  
  
But she finds her voice and her words are still bitter. “You mean you want me against your own will – is that what you’re trying to say? That’s so nice to know, Joey. What a burden on your impossibly broad shoulders…”  
  
“Kelly, come on. It’s not like that and you know it. The problem is I was dating another woman, I was about to propose to her –“  
  
“’Was’?” She asks, arching an eyebrow. “You’re not …”  
  
“No. I broke it off. The second you walked out of the room I realized I absolutely could not marry Aubrey. That I didn’t want to. If anyone ever gets a ring from me, it’s going to be you, Kelly. You’re the one I want, Kelly, the only one I have ever wanted and I was a fool to let you walk out thinking I didn’t care.”  
  
She can’t find her voice so she reaches for her drink again but he grabs her hand before she can. “Say something, Kelly, please.”  
  
“I’m shocked,” she answers. “You wanted to marry Aubrey and –“  
  
“I did but not because I was madly in love with her, Kelly. I wasn’t even infatuated. It was a knee-jerk reaction, born of complete insanity. I wanted to forget you. I wanted to put you in the past before I returned to Llanview but I never could because you have my heart. I just thought my brother would always be it for you.”  
  
“God, Joey,” she murmurs. “I adore Kevin but I’m not in love with him and I never really have been. It was always you for me. I just ran from you because I knew eventually you would leave me and I wanted to cut the apron strings before it could hurt any worse. I fell in love with you more and more each second…”  
  
“I did leave you,” Joey said. “All your fears came true and I promised I was the one person who would never hurt you. And I did. I’m so sorry, Kel.”  
  
“I hurt you too, Joey. In unforgivable ways …”  
  
Joey shakes his head. “Yes I was angry for a really long time but that’s over. I am ready to move forward and embrace whatever comes our way … If you want that too…”  
  
Kelly’s eyes moisten with fresh tears. “Do you even have to ask? Of course I want that.”  
  
Joey smiles then. “Me too. I want you, Kelly. You’ve always been the one. The only one.” He then leans over and kisses her tentatively on the lips. Soon the kiss is growing in passion and urgency.  
  
Kelly pulls away first, panting almost, her breath coming in short puffs. “Wow…”  
  
“Yeah …” He then kisses her again with all the passion and longing inside of him.  
  
When they pull apart, Kelly thumbs his cheek. “There are a helluva lot of promises in that kiss.”  
  
“And I promise I will live up to every one of them,” Joey said, threading their fingers. “Say you believe that.”  
  
“I do, Joey, I do.”  
  
 _In a mere six months’ time, Kelly would be saying “I do” to Joey once again – this time in front of God and all of Llanview. She would get the brass ring and then some. A year after saying her vows to Joey, they would have a son and a lifetime of love. But for now they intended to cherish every moment with each other and rejoice that they had found their way back home._  
  
FINIS


End file.
